Label-applying machine.



J. R. ONEILL. LABEL APPLYING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 3 I9IZ- RENEWED AUG. 16,1918- 1,300,639. Patented Apr. 15, 1919..

JOHN R. O'NEILL, ,OFRIDGEWOOD, NQEVT JERSEY.

Application fiIed Oetober 31, 1912, Serial +1 I ou728,76.5.

To all whom z'tmay concern:

Be it known thatl, JOHN B- .ONEILL, a citizen of the United States, residing in Ridgewood,.zcounty of Bergen, and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements ;in Label-Applying Machines,of which the following is a specifioation.

This invention .relateswto apparatus for applying labels or sealing strips to iboxes, bundles 0r analogous articles, and has for itsobject to providea deviceof the character described which. will apply :the middle portion of a label or-sealingstrip into oneend or face of a box or package, and simultaneously therewith fold theends ofthe strip against.

the bottom and t0p,-or .other adjacent faces of the :boX or a package.

A further iobjectof the invention is to providea device of thecharacter described in which :the operation :of a single crank or lever feeds out the gummed strip, applies moisture to its gummed surface and .cuts olf a predetermined length of the strip, the out 013' portion .beingproper ly positioned wlth regard to theapplying/device so as to be applied to :the box or package .without being handled by the operator.

A further object of the invention is to provide adevice of the character described which may be adjusted for boxes of various sizes-:and relative dimensions, and in which the operation of a single adjusting device effects the @adjustment'not only of (the. applying devices butalso ,the strip feeding and cutting devices zto correspond.

. With {the above objects in yiew, ,my invention consists ill'l :the mechanism hereinafter describedand shown in the accompanying drawing forming part oftheispecification, it aheing understood" however that the invention is mot limited {to the details ;of such mechanism, but that the same may be widely varied without departing from the spirit of my invention or the scope of the appended claims. V

1n thesaid drawings Figu e 1 i a ve ticalsection through the entireyapparatus.

Rig- 2 is horizontal section -thro eh the inclosed ibase immediately beneath the top wall thereof. iEigsBAnndfi are detail views-wh chwill be herei a e described Referring now to the drawi-ngaand par- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 15, 1919.

iRenewed August 16, 1918. Serial No. 250,234.

ticularly Fig. 1 thereof, 1 represents the base ofimyilnproved apparatus to the upper surface of which is attached a pair of uprights 2, one only of which is shown, connectedloya cross bar 3, and forming guideways for the cross head 4 mounted for vertical movement thereon. Projecting laterally from the cross head 4: at theends thereof, are two arms, one ofwhich is shown at 5, extending over the base portion 1 and connected at their free ends by a transverse plate 6 integral therewith and rigidly connected thereto. For vertically adjusting the cross head 4 a screw 7 is provided which is threaded through the cross head and seated at its lower end-ina socket bearing Son the upper surface of the base 1. A bevel gear wheel 9 is attached to the screw 7 near its lower end and meshing with this gear is a similar gear 10 attached to the end of a screw shaft 11 rotatably mounted in the cross bar 12 attached to the rear edges of the uprights 2. The screw shaft 11 is threaded into a lug 13 which projects up- Wardlyat the rear edgeof a horizontal slide 14 mounted in guide ways in the uprights 2 above the'base land provided at its forward edge with a verticalplate 15 of a width such as to enable it to .project between the side arms 5.

Immediately .beneath the slide 14 a plate 16 is mountedon springs 17 seated .on the upper surface f -thebaSe 1, suitablebolts 18 being provided for holding the plates 16 in light contact with the under surface of the slide 14. The plate 6 projects beyond the front'edge of the plate '16 and formed in the projecting endofthe plate 6 in alinement with gthe edge .of .the .plate .16 is an orifice 19 adapted to form a guide for the end of tglie gummed label strip 20, which is fed upward from the base of-the machine, immediately in front of the plate 16 as will ;be presently described.

Theplates 6, 15 and 1.61as above described, form a pocket for .the reception on the end of the box (or .package :When the label :strip is applied thereto, the .box .being thrust between the platesifiand 16 by the operator, and intowontact with the plate 15. To cause the label :strip ,to tightly adhere to the box or package, it is necessary for its gummecl surfacetobe pressed firmly against the surface offthejboxor package. To this end the plate 16 is supported on springs in the manner described, the plate 6 being adjusted to a position such that its distance from the plate 16 is slightly less than the depth of the box. To effect this adjustment the screw 7 is provided with a hand wheel 21 by means of which the screw may be turned in either direction to raise or lower the cross head 4, carrying the plate 6. The plate 15 is positioned back of the edge of the plate 16 a sufficient distance to permlt the entire length of the projecting ends of the label strip 20 to be pressed against the surface of a box by the plates 6 and 16. In most cases the greater the depth of the box the greater the length of the ends of the strip which are applied to the top and bottom faces to secure a proper sealing of the box, and therefore, the adjusting screw of the plate 15, is connected to the screw 7 by gears 10 and 12 so as to be adjusted in synchronism with the plate 6 by the operation of the hand wheel. To permit however of the separate adjustment of the plates 15 and 16, for boxes or packages of unusual dimensions, as large thin boxes or small deep boxes, I have mounted the screw 7 so that it may be slightly lifted to disconnect the gears 9 and 10. To facilitate the lifting of the screw 7, it is provided at its bearing in the cross bar 3 with a circumferential groove 22 in which is fitted an eccentric cam 23 carried by a spindle 24 having a flat head to facilitate its manual operation.

The gummed strip 20 is preferably supplied in the form of a roll 25 which is mounted on a spindle 26 within the base 1. From the roll 25 the strip extends through suitable feed rollers 27 and 28, thence over the stationary blade 29 of the shears and through the feed rollers 30, 31. From these rollers the strip passes between the moisture applying rollers 32, 33 and thence beneath the guide roller 34 through a curved guide 35 which directs the strip upwardly between the rollers 36, 37 and thence across the face of the label applying pocket formed by the members 6, 15 and 16.

For actuating the feed rollers to feed the labels in the manner described, a handle or crank arm 40 is provided, the same being mounted on a stub-shaft 41 rotatable in a suitable journal in the side of the base 1. Upon the inner end of the shaft 41 a beveled gear 42 is attached which meshes with a similar gear attached to a longitudinal shaft 43 extending along the side of the base 1. This shaft 43 is slidably mounted in its bearings and on its front end is attached a friction roller 44 which engages the face of the friction disk 45 loosely mounted on a stub-shaft adjacent the feed roller 36, as shown in Fig. 2. The edge of the disk 45 is provided with gear teeth which mesh with a gear 49 loose on the shaft of the roller 36 and driving, through a multiplying train, a gear 49 fast to the shaft. Attached to the shaft of the roller 36 adjacent the disk 45 is a small belt pulley 46 which carries a belt 47 leading to a similar pulley 48 attached to the shaft of the feed roll 30.

Co5perating with the fixed blade 29 of the cutting mechanism is a pivoted blade 50 (see Fig. 3) which is actuated by spring 51 at proper intervals as willnow be described, to cut ofi a suflicient length of the tape for application to the box. The blade 50 is provided with a lateral extension 52 beyond its pivotal support, and coiiperating with this projection is a cam 53 carried by the longitudinal shaft 43. The cam 53 (see Fig. 4) is connected to the shaft 43 by means of a spiral groove 54 in the shaft into which fits a pin carried by the cam. The shaft is provided with bearings on each side of the cam 53 so that the cam will be held against longitudinal movement with the shaft, and will be turned on the shaft when the shaft is so moved to thereby adjust the position of its operating shoulder 54.

For actuating the feed roller 27 I provide an arm 55 rotatably mounted on a shaft of the roller 27 as shown in Fig. 5 and carrying a pawl 56 which engages a ratchet formed on the end of the feed roller. A link 57 is connected to the arm 55 and attached by a pin to the face of the gear 42 on the shaft 41 of the handle 40. For adjusting the shaft 43 longitudinally of the base 1, levers engaging a collar attached to the shaft are provided, the said levers being attached to a shaft 60 projecting through the wall of the base 1 and provided with a handle 61 for its manual adjustment. The shaft 60 is also provided with a sprocket wheel 62 carrying a chain meshing with a wheel on the shaft of a chain 63 detachably connected to the slide 14 by a pin 64 as shown in Fig. 1.

The operation of the apparatus will now be described. The label applying pocket is first adjusted by means of a hand wheel 21 to the proper size for the boxes to be labeled or sealed, and in such adjustment the shaft 43 carrying the roller 44 is moved longitudinally to vary the gear ratio of the operating handle 40 and the feed rollers, and consequently the length of the strip fed at each revolution of the handle 40. As a larger box obviously requires a longer sealing strip and vice versa, a single adjustment of all the parts by the hand wheel 21 is usually sufficient to properly set all parts for the clifferent sizes of boxes, but in cases of boxes of unusual relative proportions, the friction gears may be adjusted separately from the strip applying pocket by means of the han dle 61, the pin 64 being for this purpose lift ed out of its socket attached to the chain 63. The longitudinal adjustment of the shaft 43 also alters the position of the cam 53 on the shaft so that the time of operation of the knife in the cycle of operation effected by a single complete revolution of the handle 40 is varied according to the length of the strip fed by the feed rollers. This adjustment is necessary for the reason that the length of the strip depending below the surface of the plate 16 when the box is thrust into the pocket must be equal to the length of the portion of the strip projecting above the plate 6.

The size of the feed rollers is such that when the machine is properly adjusted, one revolution of the handle 40 feeds out suflicient length of strip for the box to be labeled, and it will be noted that the feed rollers 27, 28 will be actuated only during the first half of each revolution. This operation of these feed rollers is merely sufficient to feed the end of the strip between the shear blades and into the bight of the continuously operating rollers 30, 31. After the rollers 30, 31 take hold of the strip it is drawn through the rollers 27 28 the ratchet mechanism of these rollers permitting-them to overrun the actuating pawl, but when the shears are operated as described to sever thestrip,the rollers 27,28 will cease operating whereas the cut off portions of the strip will be fed inward by the rollers 30, 31,36, 37 into position to be engaged by the box when thrust into the applying pocket. The purpose of this construction is to leave the free end of the strip always out of contact with the moisture applying rolls 32, 33, When the strip is left in contact with these rolls and the machine left stationary for any appreciable length of time, the gummed surface of the strip will adhere to the roll so that in starting up again it is necessary to clean and rethread the machine.

Having thus described my invention, What Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. In a machine of the character described, the combination of means for applying a label to boxes or packages of various sizes, adjustable means for severing such label from the end of a web and feeding the same into juxtaposition to said applying means, and means for simultaneously adjusting said applying means and said feeding means.

2. In a machine of the character described, a label applying pocket having three sides, two of said sides being adjustable, means for simultaneously adjustmg said last mentioned sides, and means for separately adjusting said sides.

3. In a machine of the class described, a label applying device comprisi two substantially parallel members, one 0 said memhere being yieldingly mounted, a transverse member, means for simultaneously adj usting one of said parallel members and said trans verse member, and means for separately adjusting said members.

4. In a machine of the character described,

the combination of means for supplying, in

the path of a box or package to be sealed, adhesive labels or strips of various lengths, means adapted to press against and afiix the labels or strips of tape to a box or package, and means operatively connected with the said label supplying means and pressing means whereby the two latter may be adjusted simultaneously to accommodate boxes or packages of various sizes.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand at the city, county and State of New York, this 26th day of October, 1912.

1 JOHN R. ONEILL. Witnesses:

W. B. MORTON, L. E. JOHNSTON.

"Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. 0. 

